Читать книгу Night Hawk онлайн | страница 35

“Need sugar?” He pointed above her head toward another cupboard. “Cass keeps a sugar bowl up there.”

“Thanks.”

Gil took his huge bowl, twice the size of Kai’s, and poured half a box of the cereal into it. Today was going to be a work-heavy day and he needed the extra calories. He watched Kai retrieve the sugar bowl. When she was done with it, she pushed it a little in his general direction. Well, she might be pissed as hell at him, but she wasn’t beyond decent human thoughtfulness. A part of him breathed a sigh of relief. He watched her pick up the cereal bowl and go to the table and sit down. Thank God, she sat at one end. He’d sit at the other, giving her all the space he could.

* * *

KAI SAT AT the end of the table where Sandy had sat last night. Her stomach was tied in knots, literally. All her hunger had fled when Gil had unexpectedly arrived. She had hoped to avoid him, but here he was. Trying to ignore his recently shaven square face, those hard, intelligent blue eyes meeting hers, she’d felt an emotion that had just floored her: desire. Of all things!

After sitting down, she quickly started eating, knowing that today Talon expected her to make an assessment on all the machinery. They had talked last night during dessert. He wanted her opinion on every piece of equipment, what it would take to get it up and running. She had her job cut out for her today.

Watching covertly, she gazed at Gil’s broad shoulders and long, powerful back. Why couldn’t she get the past out of her memory? How she’d felt that masculine power, felt his tenderness despite his size and weight. Never would Kai have thought a man could be as gentle, as loving, as Gil had been with her.

Tears burned in her eyes and Kai made a soft, frustrated sound in her throat, forcing herself to eat quickly. She had to get out of here! Get as far away from him as she could. But Kai knew that because Gil was the foreman, he would always be around her. She wasn’t sure she could handle it, but she needed this job so desperately. And she loved all the other people here on the ranch. It was such a whiplash and shock for her to see him once again.